Player

No Pictures Please presents

Player

by Matthew Lyon

We have all seen those pitiful characters in society - shuffling down the road, penniless and muttering to themselves. The unemployed actor, audition-bound and going over their lines ones last time is that most tragic of figures...

Written in a similar verse-style to his Riverside Studios debut; Broken (Best Writing, Bitesize Festival 2024), and doffing its cap to Berkoff's Actor, Player is a black-comedy told partly through soliloquies, partly through skits - on the trials and tribulations of one frequenting that oldest of all professions (no, not that one!) - Acting. 

Age recommendation: 14+

Reviews for previous shows:

“How would Shakespeare have expressed this? He probably wouldn't have changed a thing. Pretty much everything that’s spoken in Broken is quotable”. ★★★★ Michael Davis, Breaking the Fourth Wall

“Broken is one of those rare things where you feel as though you are watching a classic in the making.... I was completely seduced by its soaring musicality and delicious smuttiness. As they say - if it ain’t broke don’t fix it, and there’s nothing broken about this show”. ★★★★★ Verity Williams, London Pub Theatres

"There’s some wildly entertaining physical theatre in Broken, accompanied by the playful piano keys of silent cinema, but it’s the language that sets it apart as something unique and enjoyably different". ★★★★ Nilgun Yusuf, London Pub Theatres (Riverside Studios run, May 2025)

"There's absolutely no denying it is a cracking piece of writing" - ★★★★ The Stage